The gift of customisation

The perfect gift for any occasion is generally hard to find, especially if you are picky. What if you don’t like any of them? Well, don’t worry. Here are four entrepreneurs who have come up with interesting ventures for people who are looking for innovative and out-of-the-ordinary gifts.

Tooney

“At Tooney we don’t sell gifts, we create gifts that are exclusive and not constructed on a conveyor belt, but are handcrafted with love and personal touch,” reads the description on their Facebook page. The description is on point because Priya Mardia, the founder of Tooney, customises a variety of items such as glass bottle lamps, chocolate wrappers, chocolate bouquets, phone covers etc. Apart from this, her speciality includes ensembles based on any specified theme. “I have made Minion-themed ensembles, Game Of Thrones ensemble, football-themed ensemble, and more… . For a popcorn lover, I made an assembly with a popcorn container base and wrapped it with film strips with their photos. I filled it with Ferrero Rocher instead of popcorn. So, there is nothing that we can’t do. Till date, I haven’t told a customer that the customisation they require, regardless of how unique it is, isn’t going to be possible,” says Priya. Talking about some of her memorable creations, she mentions a wind chime she made, on request. “I once created a ‘Jar of Nothing’. A friend of mine kept saying that she wanted nothing every time someone asked her what she wanted for her birthday. So I decorated a jar and put a message on it but there was actually nothing inside,” chuckles Priya.

Details: tooney.in, 99404 44526

The Ultimate Kopie

The word ‘Kopie’ refers to ‘Replica’ in Dutch. This venture was started by Avleen Kaur, in 2014, who makes life-like figurines. The only prerequisite is a clear, high resolution picture and Avleen will make a ‘Kopie’ within 20-25 days and canbe shipped anywhere across the globe.

”We can do any kind of customisation that the customer requires, in terms of dress, posture, hairstyle, footwear, expression etc. Sometimes, the customers give us a theme they have in mind and ask us to customize a Kopie revolving that theme. Many a times, the customers just have the face pictures of the person and want us to design their attires,” says Avleen. Interestingly, she also claims that the figurines are 100 per cent hand-made using Porcelain/soft ceramic and polymer clay. “The ultimate Kopie not only cherishes the memory but also freezes that moment forever in the form of these miniature dolls,” says Avleen.

Details: theultimatekopie.com, 088835 88839

Choc of the town

The true meaning of the term ‘like a kid in a candy store’ comes alive at their outlet in Alwarpet. Choc of the Town is an idea conceptualised by Subhatra Priyadarshi and she can customise any type of chocolate — milk, dark or white. A round piece of chocolate with Kamal Haasan’s face drawn on it, with a placard that read ‘portrait chocolate’, is something that might catch your eye. An artist, Subhatra uses molten chocolate and a brush to draw the picture requested by the customer on a white chocolate base. Her best-sellers include chocolate bars with text messages of your choice and theme-based chocolate sets. Subhatra proudly says that she has made miniature replicas of the Thanjavur Brihadeeswara temple and the Taj Mahal using only chocolate. “I have some regular customers who just tell me what the occasion is and believe that I would come up with something creative,” says Subhatra. Besides chocolate, they also customise cookies, macroons and cakes on order.

Details: chocofthetown.com, 98404 57056

Neelayadakshi

Neelayadakshi is a collection of unique, hand-crafted jewellery with a contemporary twist. For those of you who are wondering what’s exclusive about hand-crafted jewellery, here is the answer. The base materials used to make every piece of jewellery are safety pins. Beads, chains, chords, colourful charms etc. are added to decorate the pieces. “I put up a stall at an exhibition in Poes Garden and there, my collection made heads turn,” says 20-year-old Roshini Mohan, the founder.

Roshini says that the very first piece that she made became rusted since it was made of iron pins. After a lot of research, she decided to use brass and nickel-coated pins since they don’t rust. “The very first question that I get from my customers is ‘How safe is a safety pin?’ But I assure them that they wont snap out because all the pins are all safely locked using pliers,” she says.

She creates neckpieces, bracelets, pendants, earrings etc. and takes a week or lesser to deliver your order.

Details: facebook.com/neelayadakshi2015, 9710804949